LOS Explanation

There's been a few questions over the new LOS system recently, as it allows units to shoot around corners in some circumstances but not in others. It models the effect of the shooter being able to "lean" around in their tile, while still having to aim at the centre of the unit they are shooting at.

I've being playing a lot of the game and I'm not particularly inclined to change it at this point, as I think it works well. However, there may well be some bugs in it. This post should explain how corners work, which will help people get to grips with the new system and also spot what is a bug and what is intentional behaviour.

In this image (click to enlarge), the two units are standing each other symmetrically. Both have the majority of their body behind their respective walls, so neither is able to fire at the other (as both have their centre-mass hidden).

In this image, the two units are also symmetrical - but this time, the wall is not covering their centre-mass. Both of them have a clean shot at one another.

This image has the two soldiers facing each other directly. In this case, the advantage is with the bottom soldier. His wall covers most of his body, preventing the other soldier from getting a clean shot on him. However, he can see most of the other soldier and therefore has a clean shot at him.

The final screenshot shows the reverse situation - both soldiers are facing each other, but this time the upper soldier is the one who has most of his body hidden and he is the one with the advantage.

THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!

The reason why this happens is because walls have thickness -if they were flat 2D planes that sat between tiles, soldiers would always be able to shoot one another when facing directly towards each other from behind a corner.

However, just like in the real world, walls in Xenonauts have thickness and actually fill three of the nine cells that make up each tile. What matters in the above example is whether the unit is standing on a tile that contains a wall. If so, the thickness of the wall provides extra protection (which can be seen visually). But if they are standing on the empty tile where there is no wall, they get no protection.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3721[/ATTACH]

In this image (click to enlarge), the two units are standing each other symmetrically. Both have the majority of their body behind their respective walls, so neither is able to fire at the other (as both have their centre-mass hidden).

These look strange. The last sentence is somewhat ambiguous, just making sure, did you mean to say that when a soldier has a majority of his body behind his wall, the other one cannot shoot at him? If yes, then the images don't match what you say. E.g. in the middle one, if the bottom soldier is aiming, why is that blocked by his wall, instead of the top soldier's wall? If the theory is that a soldier can lean around their tile, then the shooter's wall shouldn't block, it should be the target's wall that blocks.

These look strange. The last sentence is somewhat ambiguous, just making sure, did you mean to say that when a soldier has a majority of his body behind his wall, the other one cannot shoot at him? If yes, then the images don't match what you say. E.g. in the middle one, if the bottom soldier is aiming, why is that blocked by his wall, instead of the top soldier's wall? If the theory is that a soldier can lean around their tile, then the shooter's wall shouldn't block, it should be the target's wall that blocks.

Might be wrong, but if there's no clear shot then the computer can't determine which of the possible LoF trajectories was the best effort so it just displays a default one. So in the screenshot you've re-posted, it is in fact the far wall and not the highlighted one which is causing the issue, but the game doesn't know that the LoF where the far fall interdicted the shot was in fact the closest to being on target, so it ends up displaying something else instead.

It's a bit of a problem, because it makes it difficult sometimes to know hoe close you are to actually having a shot. But I think the system it working as intended otherwise.

Yes, that's what I meant. It's what's happening, even if the game doesn't necessarily always show the "best" of the failed fire paths. If all the possible fire paths would fail to hit the target, I think it just shows the default centre-to-centre path.

EDIT - what Kabill said, basically.

Could you explain whats going on with the 4 pictures I posted here? Do the units get different cover because one is outside (wall not in the same tile) and the other is inside (wall is in the same tile), as otherwise it completely symmetrical situation?

Thanks for the explanation Chris, i get it now

Could you add an example picture where the bottom guy is on the right side of the hole and the top guy on the left side of the hole. That is the symmetrical stance where the system falls apart and thats the situation your example pictures don't cover.

Could you explain whats going on with the 4 pictures I posted here? Do the units get different cover because one is outside (wall not in the same tile) and the other is inside (wall is in the same tile), as otherwise it completely symmetrical situation?

Having a different behaviour depending on the fact that a unit is inside a building or outside... well, this is the problem